1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to office furniture and the like, in particular, to a keyboard drawer for supporting an ergonomically designed keyboard, said keyboard being characterized as having a wider and higher profile than conventional keyboards so as to provide for greater ease of access and use by the operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Keyboard drawers are well known in the art and typically comprise a drawer which is mounted upon left and right slide assemblies secured to the bottom surface of a desk top or the like. It is also well known to provide shelves for keyboards which may be mounted either forward of the desk top surface or within a front cutout of the desk, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,086.
While many designs for keyboard drawers are known in the art, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,496,200 and 4,483,572 disclose drawers for transporting a keyboard component, they do not address the long felt need of this market for a drawer that will support and/or transport a keyboard built with ergonomic based designs and features. The Microsoft Corporation manufactures an ergonomically designed keyboard, "Natural Keyboard", that provides greater ease of access and operational comfort for the operator by providing a wider and more elevated key function area and wrist rest area. The well chronicled health related problems associated with extended computer use are finally being addressed by advanced designed computer components and accessories, such as the ergonomically designed "Natural Keyboard".
Conventionally designed and manufactured keyboard drawers and shelves are not designed to accept the larger and more advanced keyboards of ergonomic design, in particular, conventionally designed keyboard drawers have limited key function areas and are therefore limited in their ability to address the acknowledged need for increased wrist rest areas associated with key function areas. Hand fatigue leading to such common maladies as Carpusal Syndrome are becoming more prevailment among computer users. The advanced ergonomically designed in features of the present invention address this problem of computer operator fatigue in such a manner unknown in the existing art.